One Exception
by love from elysium
Summary: There are three things that Andromeda would always be. She would always be a constellation. She would always be in love with Ted Tonks, the muggleborn. And finally, she would always hate looking like her sister Bellatrix. However, there is one exception because it was her resemblance to Bellatrix that one fateful day that brought her to Teddy. He would give her a new beginning.


**DISCLAIMER: I siriusly don't not own this wonderful world and all its inhabitants. Do you honestly think I would be here if I did? Well, probably...**

**Anyways, hellos my darlings! It is I, the writer with the most convincing disappearing acts. Sometimes you might think I'm gone for good and then (in the words of Harry, Slughorn, and Hagrid), poof! I reappear with a new story and you may or may not enjoy! Regardless, I am thrilled that you are here so read away! And review on your way out if at all possible (it helps to limit those disappearing acts I was talking about).**

**Lastly, this was written for a competition over on the lovely HP forums, Harry Potter Fanfiction Challenges. If you haven't been there before go check it out! (After you read! Please? Hehe)**

One Exception

Then and now, two totally different universes for two utterly different version of herself.

A lot of things change but some things stay forever. For me, there are three things that would always be.

Stars are not forever but at least they stay around for a long time. And when they do leave at least they have the courtesy to pretend they're still around by sending their beams of light earthwards for millenniums after their death. So when we look up at the sky our hearts don't have to hurt.

The noble and most ancient house of Black appreciates the night. We are Black and we are therein the canvas of night. Most of the family is named after stars. And if thought about, it's an alluring concept. We are pinpricks of light bursting through the black canvas of our surname. But I was _not_ named after a star. Andromeda is the name of a constellation and that is much more lonely than any star. Constellations are too vast, too bright, too far apart to ever feel anything but lonely. Because, what good is sparkling if no one is around to see it?

The first thing I would always be is a constellation on a canvas of black.

They have a name for it when killing kittens doesn't make you sad, but what about the opposite of that?What about when you feel sad for inanimate things? That too must be some kind of condition. What's more, I must have this condition because lines especially make me sad. I'll tell you why. There's this thing about parallel lines. You see, they have a lot in common with each other but they never meet. Ever. I think that's really very sad. But then I think about every other pair of lines that meet once and then they drift apart forever. And that's really sad, too. And then finally I think about _you_ and I'm thankful that you were just a line and we were not parallel. Even if you are gone.

The second thing I would always be is in love with you, Teddy.

Some people hate looking in the mirror. There's no harsher reality than your own reflection. Most are lucky, though, because their mirrors are made out of glass. Mine isn't. My mirror lurks around my life heckling, snarking, and bringing out the worst parts of me. But we may have the same thin and hollow face, the same black hair, and the same boyish frame, one thing we while never share is your rotten heart, sister. For that, I will always remember to smile. That, too, as Ted once told me, helps to distinguish us.

The third and final thing I would always be is the owner of a burning hatred for my physical similarity to my older sister, Bellatrix.

There was a thin girl hovering over a newspaper with an animated picture only half shown because of where it had been folded in half. The girl was not tall and had a round but meatless face framed by a thick blond bob. She was not looking at the newspaper, though, rather at the bread bun she was picking apart with bony fingers. Crumbs rained down onto the black and grey print.

Another girl entered the room. This one was the elder sister of the blond but no physical resemblance would have made this clear other than perhaps their stick thin frames. The older of the sister's had wiry black hair that was knotted on her back, being morning and not yet tamed. She wore a lose white cotton nightgown though which her nipples, hard from the cold, were outlined. The woman's breasts were clearly small keeping with her thin torso and giving her a boyish look. The girls did not greet each other in any way. Instead, they went on as if the other had not appeared in the room at all. This was the etiquette of the noble and most ancient household of Black.

The younger girl's eye was finally caught by the picture on the newspaper now dressed in stale bread crumbs. Her curiousity peaked, she examined it more closely going on to read the headline.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!" It was a piercing high pitch scream.

"Shut up, Sissy! What the bloody hell are you screaming about?" asked the other sister.

Sissy, or Narcissa for that was her full name, acted as if her sister hadn't said a word to her. "BELLA!Get down here, you're on the cover of the Daily Prophet!You're terrible, You're terrible! MOTHER!"

There was manic giggling that could be heard one floor above in the old house and then the sound of someone thundering down the stairs. The woman that came around the corner was a spitting image of the black haired sister; hollow, pronounced cheeks, gaunt, olive coloured skins, icy eyes. She, instead of wearing pyjamas, looked as though she had never changed out of her wrinkled robes of the previous day.

"Oh, sisters, I've been naughty! Very bad, indeed!" Bellatrix preformed. She could not be more pleased with herself and the chaos she had created.

"What did you do, Bellatrix?" asked the middle aged sister, Andromeda. She snatched the paper from Narcissa's hands.

"Oh, Andromeda, you will love me for this one, sister!" Bellatrix snarled with a smile, leaning back against the table.

"Give it back Andromeda, you whore! I had it first!"

"_Don't_ speak to me like that."

"I'll speak to you how ever I _please_."

"YOU KILLED SOMEONE, BELLA!"

"_Actually_ it was a family, if you would bother to actually read the article. So that's four- five if you count the dog. And if you're counting the muggles you might as well count the dog." her wicked smile was spreading wider and wider as the pigment of anger in Andromeda's face intensified.

Andromeda had not missed out on a gene that every Black family member seemed to have: a temper. The entire family carried the trait of becoming utterly consumed by rage once the proper lightning had struck them. Andromeda, though, was not merely a star, as most Blacks. She was a constellation and her temper mirrored this. It was explosive as if it were consistent of solely nitroglycerin. On thsese occasions, it could be witnessed in the power of her magic involuntarily exploding into the environment.

Not wanting that to happen now, Andromeda turned around and left for her bedroom. There were so many things she wanted to say to Bellatrix. Did she _like_ this villain she was becoming? Did she truly think that there was nothing wrong with _killing_ muggles for no reason? Did she ever even spare a thought to the fact that because of their physical similarities their reputation was somewhat fused? Of course not. Bella is not capable of thinking about anyone but herself. In her later years at Hogwarts and in the months since graduating, Andromeda was able to for the first time clearly view the blasphemous family she belonged to. Andromeda had come to discover that there was indeed nothing noble about the most noble and ancient house of Black. Bellatrix, however, was climbing to new heights in he behaviour and actions as of late.

Downstairs Andromeda could hear her mother now arguing with Narcissa and Bella. She couldn't nor did she care to make out the words being uttered. She stripped her pyjamas and put on fresh clothing. Fixing her hair and painting her face with makeup were the consecutive task to dressing herself. Andromeda had always been insecure about how pale and gaunt her skin made her face look. The Black family as a whole were fair but Bella and Andromeda were especially so. For years she'd been using makeup to try to bring the life into her features that appeared to have been thoroughly washed out.

All the while she was concentrating on being calm and maintaining composure despite her swimming mind. But when she finally came down, her mother and Bellatrix were not having the conversation she had prescribed in her mind.

"Andromeda, you can't wear those rags today. You look like a muggle for heaven sakes. We are going to Uncle Orion's manor for dinner," her mother said to her as Andromeda reached the bottom of the steps.

Andromeda, though, seemed to hear her in slow motion. She turned to face her mother wide eyed.

"That's _it_? That's all you have to say? You don't _care_, Mother? You don't care that your own daughter has become a murder? A killer by nature? For fuck's sakes! You walk into breakfast and Bella says oh hello mother, nice day, oh and by the way I killed a family last night. Oh lovely, daughter! Please remember we are going to dinner tonight." Andromeda mimicked in high sarcastic voices.

"I will not have you speak like that in my home, Andromeda. You know full well that had they not been muggles I would have dealt more severely with your sister. But she understands that there are certain things that must be done to stay in good standing with the Dark Lord. A few muggles will certainly not be noticed and will not hurt the reputation of this family."

"REPUTATION!" Andromeda howled, "You think that's what this is about? YOUR OWN DAUGHTER IS A COLD BLOODED MURDERER. THIS FAMILY, THIS FAMILY IS _FILTHY!_ YOU SHOULD WORRY LESS ABOUT ABOUT YOUR REPUTATION AND MORE ABOUT EACH AND EVERYONE OF YOU BEING SHOT UP IN ASKABAN!"

Andromeda had irreversibly lost control. In that instant, everything made of glass in the entire manor blew out. The windows shattered into jagged fractures. The china in the cabinets appeared to disintegrate into piles of dust. Bellatrix hissed and Narcissa ran from the room.

"STOP THAT, YOU BRAT! GET OUT OF MY HOUSE AT ONCE!" her mother screamed. But in Andromeda's head it sounded muffled like her head was inside a fish bowl. Her whole being was on fire with the power of her anger and the magic being expelled from her outside of her control. Heeding the advice only for her own sake and without a thought to the women she was leaving behind, she left the house. She was dead-set on leaving, getting away, going far away from here. If she ever saw another Black again she was sure she would kill or be killed.

That family had ruined her.

As she walked, nearly ran, she was able to boil off some of the rage that filled her head with a haze. She noticed the weather had turned on a dime. The glowing sunrise of the morning had been transformed into dark unforgiving clouds. It took a very powerful witch or wizard to change the weather in even the slightest way never mind a complete turnaround in forecast. Instinct told her that it had indeed been her magic that had changed it and for this she felt a twinge of pride. This, too, helped to drain the anger.

But by the time she actually pulled her awareness out of head and focused on her surroundings, Andromeda found that she was in London's muggle suburbia. It was nearly evening now. She had clearly been wandering for hours not giving a single thought to where she was actually going and was, consequently, quite lost. Now calmer, she fully felt the exhaustion setting in to her legs and her mind. With exhaustion came the reality of her situation. With reality, panic came also. She couldn't go home. But all she had were the clothes on her back and her wand. She had nowhere to sleep, nothing to eat, and no money to change that.

Andromeda looked across the street to a young girl chasing a cat down the sidewalk. The feline was holding a mouse in his mouth.

"Put him down, Merlin! That isn't nice! Please! Please, put him down!" she was calling out in a shrill voice. Her eyes were welling up with tears. Andromeda couldn't help but notice how innocently beautiful she was. Long locks of unbrushed hair trailed behind her as she ran up the street. But her shoelaces were just as neglected as her hair so one was undone like that of any careless nine year old. The next thing Andromeda saw the nymphet girl had tripped and stumbled to the ground. Her cheek grazed against the concrete. Immediately, Andromeda ran across the road and knelt down beside the girl. She was sniffling softly, the perfect sound to match her angel tears.

"Uh oh! We took a tumble, eh? Up we get, darling. You're alright. Shake it off," Andromeda cooed.

When the girl stood Andromeda surveyed the full effects of the damage. Her cheek was scraped with little pinpricks of blood ebbing to the surface. Her white stockings were worn with numerous runs tearing down her legs revealing battered kneecaps. Her little palms were imprinted with small stones. It was in this instant seeing her like this that Andromeda thought back to a particular memory of her own childhood when she had skinned her knee falling off a miniature broom that had been luckily only three feet in the air. Bellatrix had laughed at her.

Andromeda still had her arms around the child when she felt as if an invisible boulder had hit her chest and propelled her backwards onto the ground. Her head rebounded against the cement. It was because of the splitting pain that the voice which was speaking seemed to come in her ears like a wave.

"...GET AWAY FROM HER, YOU ANIMAL!" It was a man speaking, _yelling_ rather, an explosive fury colouring his voice. Her eyes were finally focusing to allow her a second sense in trying to interpret the situation. Unfortunately, though, what she saw only confused her further. Wasn't she in muggle London? If so, why did it look like that man was pointing a wand at her? And whatever had sent her flying backwards had felt unmistakeably like a stunning curse. On a second thought, that face looked familiar. More than familiar, this was Ted Tonks.

"What, you think muggle-borns don't read the Prophet?! You're that ignorant are you?!" Ted was now hiding the girl behind him as if to protect her from an eminent threat. "Well I did see your picture, plastered across the front page your ugly face was. I've got you now, haven't I? You'll be straight to Askaban once the aurors get here!"

"TEDDY!" The girl finally yelled exasperated from clearly trying to gain the man's attention by tugging at his sleeve.

"Lydia, this is important! Can you go in-"

"So is this, you prat! You've got the wrong lady! This lady was just helping me up when I tripped and scraped my face!"

"Lydia, I know this is hard to understand but she was just _pretending_ to be nice. Truly she's an awful and terrible human being. Her whole family is. She's done some things recently that are... unforgivable."

"I've seen your magic newspaper, Ted. It's _not_ the same lady. She's not the muggle murderer, they just look similar. I'm sure of it!"

"What? You were snooping in my room!"

"Besides the point, I'll prove it. Go get the paper."

"No, you get it seeing as you already know where it is. Besides I'm not going to give her the chance of escape."

"For goodness sake, Teddy! Just take another look at her, would you? It's not the killing one!"

Ted crept closer towards Andromeda as if he thought that she might suddenly lash out despite being stunned. There were tears welled in her eyes that spilled over as Ted made eye contact with her, his face just a half a metre from hers. As realization hit him Andromeda witnessed the shock, horror, and shame erupt across his features.

"Oh my God," he croaked. Immediately he released the curse allowing her to move. Ted offered her his hand to help her up but she ignored it.

"Oh my God, Andromeda! Andromeda, I am so sorry! It's just that you-"

"Look so much like my sister, Bellatrix? Yeah I've always hated that. But what can I do? I didn't choose the way I look," She growled at him before attempting to stalk off up the street. She still felt dizzy from hitting her head and stumbled about a bit.

"Your head, it's bleeding."

"Once again there is nothing I can do about that. I didn't choose to be thrown backwards against the ground," She bit back, still trying to proceed forward at a compromised pace.

"Andromeda, I'm sorry about what I said. You're face is ot ugly. You're actually quite pretty! Beautiful, actually. I..."

His voice was already starting to be lost in the wind as she walked farther away from Ted and his sister. He went over to the Lydia and spoke to her. For a moment, Andromeda believed he would let it lie but next thing she knew he had jogged over to her. She sighed loudly as if her attitude towards him wasn't already clear enough.

"Please go away. You could not have picked a worse day to bother me."

"Oh, I'm not bothering you."

"Oh yes, yes you are!"

"No I'm not because if I was you could always leave."

"Yeah?"

"Yes, you could disapparate right now and I would have no idea where you went. Problem solved. But, you having done that yet so clearly I can't be all that bothersome."

"Well maybe I was just about to but you haven't given me a chance."

"Oh you don't need my permission. Go right ahead!"

"Honestly, today is _not_ the day that you want to try me, Tonks."

"Ah, so you _do_ recognize me. I was hoping you would at least. We did, after all, go to school together for seven years though never once did we actually have a conservation. Understandably, Slytherins and Hufflepuffs aren't typically best buds. Here, allow me to formerly introduce myself. Hello, my name is Ted Tonks. A pleasure to meet you!" He held out his hand to her but Andromeda just narrowed her eyes looking at his extended hand and then at him.

He was incidentally not at all discouraged by her reluctance to play along. He shook his hand in the air regardless of her not taking it and continued talking. And as much as Andromeda tried to be angry and tried to be annoyed by him, his blunt and admitably charming personality couldn't be stopped in warming her up. Soon he had her suppressing a smile as a result of his classic self deprecating humour. Within an hour he had her telling him things that she had never told anyone let alone this near stranger.

"Well my father died. No, my father was killed. There were complications in the politics of this and that and I guess whomever it was just decided to kill him instead of negotiating. Make sense, of course. My father was an overly ambitious man. Stubborn, too."

"Did you love him?" Andromeda looked at Ted wide-eyed. This was not the question she had expected next. She hesitated. He seemed to have a habit of making her hesitate.

"Yes," She eventually supplied. "I suppose I loved him as much as I could love a man I never knew. But I think his odds we better that way."

"What does that mean?"

"It means that I think I wold have had a harder time loving him if I had actually known him."

They had walked for quite some time and now found themselves sitting on a park bench to give their legs a rest. Andromeda especially needed the break. She had been walking all day and it was dusk now.

"Do you want me to take you home?"

"No."

"Do you want to come to my place for some tea?"

"No."

"Do you want to go somewhere?"

"No."

"Well what other options are left?"

"There aren't any other options left."

"Then what are you going to do?"

"I don't know," Andromeda snapped. Teddy didn't say anything after that. The fangs in her words wore away his confidence and her retreated back. There was a long silence of probably five minutes though it felt like longer as they walked along through the dark. Andromeda spoke.

"I can't go home. Not only that, I don't want to. That house, it has nothing for me. It only reminds me of how my family has never been a family to me. And that's all I've ever wanted from them."

"You know, there's a thing about life that only some people know. I think a lot of people would find it useful, though, if we did know about it. It's this; you can have a fresh start whenever you want one. All you have to do is decide that you want one. Do you want a fresh start?"

"Yes."

"Then say so."

"I want a fresh start at life."

"Good, that settles it."

"Settles what?"

"You're running away, aren't you?"

"That was the grand plan."

"I'm going to help you."

"How?"

"Well, to start, we are going to go retrieve your things from your old home. That's the first step of your fresh start."

"Excellent. When? How? We can't exactly go barging in through the front door. My mother would not have any of that."

"We go tonight and we won't barge of course, unless you're thick. No, we will be stealthy, like burglars."

"Burglars?" Andromeda asked.

"You honestly have no idea what a burglar is?"

"Oh well forgive me! Us Blacks aren't exactly well up to date on our muggle vocabulary," Andromeda said sarcastically, but the part she couldn't figure out was that despite this, despite everything, she was smiling.

"You are no longer a Black because this is your fresh start and therefore you are yet to be defined. And, for your information, burglars are muggle thieves who sneak into your house at night and steal things."

Andromeda's smile widened into a grin. "Are we going to sneak into sneak into the Black Manor?"

"That's exactly what we're going to do."

Before doing this, though, they went back to Ted's house in the muggle neighbourhood and had a cup of tea each. Andromeda trailed behind Ted as her crept up the stairs to his sister's room to peak his head in the door and check on her. It was past 2am and she was inevitably asleep. Andromeda, seeing the reassured smile on his face as he looked at his sister, for a moment felt her insides turn over with jealousy. No one had ever looked at her the way he looked at his nine year old sister, least of all Bellatrix or Narcissa or even her mother. They settled in to the den around a gas fireplace. The rundown looking room made her Black home seem like a palace by comparison and it was for exactly that reason that Andromeda preferred this muggle house so much. It felt like a real home. Teddy had given her a blanket to put over her legs and an English breakfast tea even though breakfast was still hours off. He also told her to write down a list of the most important things they were to retrieve from her house. Thankfully, most of which were located in one room of the large home, her bedroom.

Despite her being a Slytherin and he a Hufflepuff, despite both of them going to the same school for seven years and never having said a word to one another, despite her being a pureblood and him a muggleborn, despite his smile and her frown, there was an undeniable friendship forming. One built to last a very long time.

"Alright, if you're done, let's go," Teddy finally said. At this moment, though, Andromeda was so warm and sleepy she did not at all feel like going on their adventure. Regardless, she tossed the blanket aside and stood up. Following Teddy out the door, he gave her the impression that he knew exactly where they were going. Once on the sidewalk though, he turned around to her.

"I have no idea where you live... _lived_," he said. Andromeda smiled a slightly smug smile and raised her eyebrows.

"I wondered where you were planning on taking us. I live... _lived_ in West Camden Town."

"Blimey! And you walked all the way here?"

"Yep, come on, the sun will be coming up soon. I'll apparate us both there." Andromeda instinctively reached for his hand but stopped herself before she touched his skin. Ted had not missed the gesture. They made eye contact for a second. Andromeda's embarrassment was evident in her cheeks. After a second or two however, he said, "Come on." And took her hand with his. Andromeda disapparated before she let herself think too much about how pleased it had made her that he had taken her hand.

They landed in a crunchy bit of land standing on top of a mass of dead leaves.

"Ouch! Did you have to pick the bushes as our arrival spot, Andromeda? These trees are attacking me! Ahh, and that branch nearly just took my eye out!"

"Shhh! Quiet! We needed somewhere hidden! We couldn't just appear on the front stoop unless we wanted to be seen, you idiot!" she said, though she didn't really mean it.

"Hey! I was running this operation and now all of a sudden you're calling all the shots?" he dropped her hand and Andromeda saw him cross his arms even in the dark. She turned her head away so he couldn't see her smile.

It took a while for them to make it inside and up to Andromeda's room on the second floor. But the farther they got the more they realized what a good team they made.

"Ah fuck! They know we're here!" Andromeda hissed.

"Just keep packing!" he whispered back.

"Andromeda are you home?!" The sound of her mother's booming voice was heard just outside the door.

"She's in the hall!"

"You go out and stall. I'll get everything else and meet you in the yard."

"Okay," she said. They made eye contact of a moment. Ted nodded reassuringly and Andromeda took a deep breath and turned to her bedroom door.

"Yes, dear mother, I have returned to your _lovely_ home," Andromeda hollered, sarcasm dripping from her mouth like venom.

Her mother obviously tasted it because she took the bait. "Well! You have some nerve showing up here again! I cannot believe your behaviour this morning. Utterly intolerable. _INTOLERABLE_! Your father would not have stood for such nonsense and nor will I! You cannot go about behaving like this because your actions have a responsibility to more people than just yourself! You owe your life to this family and..."

And on and on she went. Andromeda did not bother to interpret the words trying to assault her attention. Instead she focused on taking one last thorough look around the place of her childhood. Eventually she heard Ted's whistle from the yard. That was when she finally spoke.

"You know what? You're right! My behaviour has been unacceptable. Want to know why? Because for too long I stuck around here against my better judgement. This family is nothing but a pack of incestuous thieves, murderers, and rapists. But you lot have got one thing right. _Toujours pur_, that's right. Ninety-nine percent success rate of procreating fiends as disgusting as their parents. Ooops looks like I turned out to be the one percent who don't like to keep company with urchins like yourselves. Goodbye, Mother, you filthy whore. I hope I never see you again. But maybe you could send me a postcard from Hell. Send the rest of the Black family my love when you get there, will you?"

Without waiting to see her response Andromeda spat on the floor, went back into her room and scanned it quickly before making her way over to the open window. There was a breeze blowing in and she could make out Ted's silhouette on the ground. Her trunk was beside him.

"Jump, I'll catch you!" And she did. Launching herself out of the second story window, Andromeda plummeted earthbound until the very last few feet where she was caught by Ted's cushioning charm.

"Alright, let's go!" he said heaving her trunk over his shoulder. He had used a lightening charm but it was still bulky to carry.

When they got to the fence that surrounded the perimeter of the property Ted gave her a leg up. She hopped the fence and once on the other side watched Ted climb over effortlessly, trunk and all. He turned and looked at her.

"Are you sure you want to do this?"

"_Obviously_, it's already done. The damage is done. After what I said to her I couldn't go back even if I wanted to."

"Well, come to my place. Sleep there at least for now until you decide what you want to do."

They finally got back into the house after apparating home. Straight away Ted went upstairs to once again check on his kid sister. When he came back down though, he found that Andromeda was on the couch trying to conceal her tears. He went over immediately and sat down next to her.

"Ah darling,you've had a terribly hard day," he said quietly, taking her hand in both of his. "You gave up your family which is very brave know. Not everyone could do that."

"I'm not brave, I'm a coward. I couldn't stand up to them. Instead I ran away from my problems," she stuttered out through sharp intakes of breath.

"No, you didn't. And you will come to see that once you have a clear head. I know your exhausted. Don't say you aren't because there is no way you couldn't be. Lie down. I'll get you a pillow."

"Why are you doing this, Teddy?" She turned to him no longer trying to pretend that she wasn't crying. "Is it really just because you feel bad that you had mistaken me for my sister? Because if that's the truth I would like to leave straight away. I refuse to be a charity case because I for one don't deserve that and I'm far too prideful, anyway."

"Do you want to know something, Dromeda?" That was the first time and certainly not the last that Ted ever called her that. "Today, the reason that I confused you for your sister is more complicated than you know. Yes, I was paranoid for Lydia's safety after having read the morning papers but it was more than that. When we were at Hogwarts, you nor Bellatrix went unnoticed by me. Yes, perhaps physically you are nearly mirror images of each other but to me there was one difference between you that meant the world. It was your smile. While Bella looked vacant, you always wore a sad smile that made me know that you not a rotten apple like the rest of them."

Andromeda now smiled through her leaking eyes. "Rotten apple?" she questioned.

"Muggle expression. It only means that your constant smile alerted me to the fact that you had made a choice to be different, to be better than what your family expected you to be. So today, when your smile was missing I had little means to distinguish you from your sister. Luckily, my sister was able to see what I could not. And that on a closer look I found that your eyes were too bright to be those of Bellatrix."

They were quiet for some time. Outside the sun was beginning to break the dawn into morning.

"Thank you," Andromeda eventually whispered.

Ted said nothing but what he did meant more than any words he could have used. He pulled her into his side and wrapped his long arms around her blanket covered body. Somehow he had known that this was exactly what she had needed. Andromeda may have lost her family today but the warmth and protection of his embrace made her believe that it wouldn't be too long before she found a new one. After all, the house of Black had never truly been a family to her and certainly not a good one at that. There were many lose ends in her life right now but for now she was content exactly where she was.

There are three things that Andromeda would always be no mattered what rough waters battered her. She would always be a constellation. She would always be in love with Ted Tonks, the muggleborn. And finally she would always hate looking to similar to her sister Bellatrix.

But from all these three things, the last is the only one which requires an exception. The one exception to hating her appearance to her sister came the day that being mistaken for Bellatrix had finally brought her to her family. For the first time in her life she had been truly home.

And that was the one exception.


End file.
